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I was at the range first thing this morning testing some 7.62x54R handloads I had put together yesterday. There were 8 groups of 3 shots each at various powder charges. The loads are as follows:

Prvi Partizan 7.62x54R brass (new, unfired)
Hodgon H4895 (42.0 - 45.5gr)
CCI 200 primers
150gr Prvi Partizan SPBT bullets
Loaded to the top of the cannelure @ 2.840" (well off the rifling)

I tested 40.0, 40.5, 41.0, and 41.5gr of H4895 last week without issue. I've also tested the 167gr Missouri Bullet Company #1 Russian Hi-Tek with IMR 4198 without this issue (accuracy was a different matter in that case, lol).

The first shot fired fine. The second shot gave an audible "click". No bang or any sound of a primer igniting at all. I tossed open the bolt to make sure I had loaded a round and to see if there was a good primer strike. I pulled back a case without a bullet. The powder was at the case mouth and had all clumped together. The bullet was (firmly) lodged in the rifling just in front of the chamber.

The powder appears to be a bit blackened around the edges of the case (hard to see in the first photo). I gently pushed on the powder and it didn't immediately give and was certainly clumped. It appears the primer partially ignited, enough to cause the powder to clump up and bump the bullet into the rifling. Thankfully, the rifle has the integrated cleaning rod right below the barrel and I was able to smack out the bullet, but it didn't want to come out easily. The lighting in this picture isn't great, but around the edges of the case the powder looked blackened.

NOTE: None of these charges are compressed charges and are well below the max charge of 49.5 grains.



My first thought was I had my first dud primer from one of my handloads. After knocking the bullet out I continued to fire more rounds. Shots 3-7 had no issue, but again, on shot #8 the same thing happened. A audible click, but nothing sounding like the primer fired.



I tried to bring both cases home and take better pictures under more controlled lighting. Shot #2 had lost the top clump of powder on the way home, but shot #8 was still fully clumped up.



I used a small wire to dig the remaining clumped powder out of case #2. Here you can see a large chunk that wouldn't fit through the case mouth.



And here's more of the clumps after getting them out of the case (many clumps fell apart after they were out of the case mouth).



After the second primer issue, I remembered that upon initial inspection of the brass it seemed like the primer pockets were a bit deep. Here's a look at the primer strike and how far the primer sits in the primer pocket.



The primer strike looks pretty good to me, but that primer is sitting rather deep in the pocket. Measuring with a caliper shows the primer sitting 0.010" below flush!

What are all of your thoughts?
Is this a case of the primer pocket being too deep causing a weak primer strike?
Could it still be dud primers?
Bad powder?
Something else?

IME, if the primer ignites, the powder burns. Light primer strike usually means no ignition.
The only time I`ve seen powder partially burn, was when a bit of moisture, or other contamination, like oil, was left in the case. Discollered granuals would suggest exposure to heat from the primer, and that the unburned powder was pushed forward by the force of the primer igniting, and forming a clump.

Again my experience.

Do you have any new, unloaded cases you can inspect for contamination in the cases? I've received new brass in the past with oily residue on them.

Did you possibly get some LP primers mixed in with your LRs? They are .005" shorter.

Powder might be getting close to going bad, or has gone. I'd try again with the same powder using mag primers, then try again with fresh powder and the std primers and see what happens. I've had similar happen with an older lot of milsurp WC846.

Looks like wet powder. I had the same thing about 25 years ago with some .303 Brit surplus pull down brass that I bought. It was already primed, and I failed to inspect. Seems that it had oil inside which sunk the berdan primers so that I would get hang fires.

The powder definitely looks corrupted. Oil, moisture... something.

Would not attempt to shoot any more of that batch.

I do. I still have about 50-60 unloaded, unfired cases that I can inspect.

No. I literally pulled a new sleeve of primers out of the brick as I had used up the last of the previous sleeve. These were the first primers to come out of there. If they are LP primers, it was a mix up at the factory. I don't think that's the case though.

Cases were fresh out of the bag and powder was dry coming out of the container. So, unless there was some contamination inside the cases from the factory...

I still have 15 rounds loaded up, in increasing charge weights. I can pull those bullets and inspect the power of those rounds.

Might be too light a load with too slow a powder. That exact same thing happened to me when I was trying out cast loads in my 458. The powder only just starts to burn but then gets blown out somehow. I was also getting hangfires. I stopped when a projectile got stuck at the start of the rifling. I was using too light a load with too slow a powder.

There is a coating on the powder that makes it black. Nitrocellulose is translucent yellowish. It appears that the coating gets burned off and there is some melting to clump the granules together.

I'm largely 100% sure that the powder in the unfired rounds will look normal.

I'm using Hodgdon H4895 which Hodgdon recommends for reduced loads. This powder is used with their "60% rule". Take 60% of a maximum charge to make a reduced load. This powder is well equipped for lighter charges and these charges are within 85-86% of the Hodgdon recommended max load.

As also previously stated, I loaded 4 different lighter loads last week which fired without issue. Also, while this is a Prvi Partizan bullet it does fall within the load data published by Hornady for their 150gr Interlock. They list their start charge at 39.7gr and the first shot that failed contained 42.0gr of H4895. The second shot that failed contained 43.0gr of H4895. So I don't believe it's a too light load issue.

I'll fairly safely bet that the problem goes away at normal loadings. I have 46grains listed as a minimum loading for that combination.

Have you checked the powder of the unfired rounds? And its weight?

I pulled the first of the 15 rounds. Powder looks completely normal to the naked eye. I shook all 14 remaining rounds and all rounds "feel" and sound normal. The powder seems as if it's flowing freely in the cases and doesn't appear to be clumped.

Here is the powder from round #10 (first of the unfired 15 rounds loaded previously).




Here is a picture of the powder out of the canister (H4895 late 2006-early 2007 era). This is what was used yesterday to load up the rounds fired this morning. This powder still has the expected smell.




Here is powder from another, previously unopened canister of H4895 (about 10 years newer, 2017 era). This powder has a stronger smell then the older canister of powder, but roughly smells the same. The lighting isn't identical between the two photos. To the naked eye the powder from both canisters looks the same.




Here is the spent primer from shot #1, which fired without issue.




And here is the spent primer from shot #2, which had clumped powder and was a squib.




From the looks of it, the primer obviously ignited but it certainly doesn't look like it ignited "fully". Please note, that both the failed shots have a distinctive burned powder/primer smell when held up to the nose. So the primers certainly tried to ignite.

Is it possible for a primer to partially ignite? Even primers without powder when ignited have a definite bang, which these didn't. But they also obviously fired, at least partially, or so it seems to me.

What do you think?

Yes the primer absolutely fired - the flame caused the weird effects on the powder that extends through the length of the case. Like I said, it's a light load and the problem will go away with normal loads.

My "problem" cast loads in 458 was with AR2206H which is equivalent to 4895. I suspect that you didn't have issues first time around because perhaps it was warmer, and you were at the cusp on the issue occuring. I managed to fire a few rounds without issue, a few hangfires inbetween and then the fail to fire/stuck projectile. If the loads were even lighter then it would happen at every
load.

I would try mag primers as I suggested. If you have some.

Yes, that may well fix the problem. It didn't in my 458 but may in this case.

You mention that these are new cases; have you measured the depth of the primer pockets?
What about the height of the primers?
Were you able to get a chronograph reading on the loads that did fire?
Are you getting good neck tension on the seated bullets?

It looks like the powder isn’t getting up to pressure to continue the heat/pressure acceleration. I would guess it’s due to something in the ignition process…..primer pocket depth, the primer height, primer type or just too light a load in your rifle with your components.
You’ve got a good firing pin indentation so I don’t think it’s a rifle problem.

I would question the primers. After all, that is the new component.
I am still working on 8# of H4895 that I purchased in the early 80's and use it for my 30-06 cast bullet loads. These are loaded right around the "60% of Max" charges and they work fine. Might be interesting to prime 10 cases and fire them off. They should sound about like a 22LR going off, if they vary that might be the problem. I don't know of a way to test primers other than that.